1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a portable diagnostic device and a data communication system for use with this device. The present invention relates more particularly to a portable diagnostic device for determining an optimum countermeasure for a failure of a machine, for example, a photographic process, and also relates to a data communication system for collecting data relating to failures from these diagnostic devices.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the field of photographic processors, for instance, corrective maintenance is conventionally performed as follows.
When a user of a photographic processor makes a request for repair of the processor, a representative of the manufacturer or repair service visits the site with a repair manual. The representative, or repairer, refers to the manual to search out several types of failures and corresponding countermeasures, and takes possible steps to cope with the failure. After repairing the photographic processor, the repairer fills out a service order including the name of the user, the type or number of the repaired apparatus, the type of the failure and the countermeasure, the time taken for the repair, and so forth. A copy of the service order is forwarded to the user for confirmation, and another copy is forwarded to a corrective maintenance department of the manufacturer or repair service. A copy of the service order is also sent to the technical service headquarters of the manufacturer. In the technical service headquarters, the work orders having been sent from many offices are utilized for compiling technical data in the interest of revising the repair manual for the repairers as well as improving the quality and development new photographic processors. The necessary data contained in the service orders is manually coded and inputted into a computer.
However, it is very tedious to retrieve information about optimum measures from the repair manual. Also the manual data input process in the technical headquarters is time-consuming. Furthermore, since the work orders are forwarded to the technical headquarters by way of a branch office or a local main agency of the manufacturer, there is a certain time lag in the data collection.